Dosing has me scratching my head...

[gbroadbridge]

Okay so, I have been slowly dosing and noticed calcium is dropping more than alk? Yesterday my alk was 10.2 and calcium was 425. Today alk is 11.9 calcium is at 410. I have only dosed calcium as I am trying to let my alk dwindle down a little bit. Any reason why why alk rised like that and my calcium was consumed? I do have a decent amount of Coraline. I use IO salt mix and I have cheato in my sump. Could the cheato be taking up nitrates causing my alk to spike like that?

The Ca rise is probably a measurement error.

If you want your alk to drop, stop dosing.

 

[Korkuc36]

The Ca rise is probably a measurement error.

If you want your alk to drop, stop dosing.

I haven't been dosing ALK just calcium

 

[gbroadbridge]

Sorry, I missed that - reading on a phone.

Do you know if Nitrates have risen? Increasing nitrates increases Alkalinity by about 1.2 dKh per 25ppm

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Sorry, I missed that - reading on a phone.

Do you know if Nitrates have risen? Increasing nitrates increases Alkalinity by about 1.2 dKh per 25ppm

Dosing nitrates and having the values steady boosts alk.

Rising nitrate from normal accumulation (from ammonia conversion) depletes alkalinity.

Falling nitrate boosts alkalinity.

 

[gbroadbridge]

Dosing nitrates and having the values steady boosts alk.

Rising nitrate from normal accumulation (from ammonia conversion) depletes alkalinity.

Falling nitrate boosts alkalinity.

Thanks for the correction. I had it right and then for some reason flipped it. More coffee.

 

[Korkuc36]

Everything balanced itself out. Alk 8.9 and CA 450. Thanks for all the info guys

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Sounds good.

Happy Reefing.